On Montana Time

Eight days ago I was reunited with Brother Carlos and it has been aglorious week. There has been a lot of simply relaxing around the house and playing with the kids. When all of the family comes over, it gets crazy. One pair of 1.5 year old twins, one 16 month old, a 3 and a 4 year old. Some of Kris' family were in town and a few times it was all the kids and like 15+ adults. ...and breathe... it was a ton of fun.

Last Thursday we trekked up to Glacier National Park. I feel there are few, if any words in any

of today's languages to describe the vast beauty that is contained within these 1,600 square miles. Most of our day consisted of driving the one main road through the park; starting low and climbing and climbing until we reached Logan Pass at 6,646 ft looking up at snow dusted peaks scratching 10,000 ft.

We took a wee hike from the visitor center to a vista of Hidden Lake. It really was hidden until you got there. It was only a 3 mile round trip trail, but nothing but uneventful. The views even as we were en route were spectacular and worth stopping for, but the most exciting part was toward the top when we, along with 50 other humans, encountered a mountain goat with her kid. They were pure white plus a tanish mohawk growing down the kid's back. They were less

than 30 ft away and at one point mamma goat decided to cross the tail directly in front of me. Literally could have jumped on her back, but i didn't I just took the picture pictured.

We saw some big horn sheep from across a large valley, but with my zoom lens and some wicked binoculars we could see them pretty well. But the best animal sighting was a wee grizzly cub! We came to a stop thinking it was part of the constant road construction, but alas! it was a bear! He (or she?) was in a bush hanging straight out over the road about ten feet up chowin' down on some berries or something. It was pretty cute and considering there are just over 800 grizzlies in all of the expansive state of Montana, it was a rare sight.

Friday was lake day. One boat, two pairs of water skis (old skool), one kneeboard and a sweet-A cabin right on the lake; it made for a real good day. I water-skied for the first time since

getting my water-skiing merit badge in Boy Scouts way back in the day like 10 years ago and stood up on the knee board 'cause that's way cooler. :) The water is so clear, it seems like you could see 20 feet down! Probably the best of the day was when Carlos overcame hesitation and tried water skiing! Whether he actually got up or not is irrelevant; he got out there!!!

We have had some incredible sunsets just about every night. This sky really

is big. Like, real big. Huge. And this valley is completely surrounded by mountains. It has been colder than anticipated, but we've made the best of it.

I started Augustine's Confessions...

2:30 tomorrow morning, Jim, Carlos' brother-in-law, is picking me up on his way to work and giving me a ride all the way up to Shelby, MT where Hwy 2 meets I15. He'll drop me at about 5:30/6 am. At least I'll get an early start :)

This next leg of the journey is intimidating. I could make it easier and head across the 90, but I would rather see more of the country of MT and ND and into MN. Hwy 2 eventually stretches all the way to Maine so I could be seeing a lot of that sign, but that is yet to be experienced.

My next stop will be MN to see a couple friends, but that's over 1,000(!) miles away so I don't know when next I'll be able to post here or even be able to Twote or FB or even call anyone, but when I get the chance I won't pass it up.

Blessings to you all and thanks for reading :)